Get Help Focusing on the Right Targets During Your Job Search

As you know, nowadays most of the electronic submissions to which you upload your resume are first scanned by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Your LinkedIn profile is also scanned by HR organizations and recruiters looking for specific types of talent.

One of the ways they capture the skills and experience they are looking for is by first establishing a set of criteria the candidate needs to have (such as M&A experience, P&L management, Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, etc.). These Keywords or Key Phrases allow the hiring entities to match requirements to candidates on a broad scale when they are dealing with hundreds of resumes.

When they match their keywords against what is found in your resume, you are given a percentage match, like 27% or 80%. Ones that pass their threshold limit will then potentially be passed on to a human in HR, those that don’t may not be seen by a person at all.

Some organizations, such as jobscan.co, provide a tool that allows you to ensure that you have the keywords you need for a specific type of role.

So, when you find a you would like to apply to, copy and paste the job description into Jobscan. Then do the same for the text in your resume. At that point you can click “scan” and it will do what the ATS systems do — it will give you a list of keywords, numerically ranked it order of how many times they appear in both documents.

This is a great tactical tool to use for just tuning up your resume with exactly the same words that the hiring company is looking for. It is also a strategic tool, because as you aggregate the results of multiple scans, it will help you see if you are looking for the roles that you are best qualified. It can help you research and evaluate a number of related job titles and see where you match the best with your skills and experience.